


The Unknown World

by blaszczu2500



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Machines, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Music, My english sucks, NieR: Automata Spoilers, Slow Burn, references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blaszczu2500/pseuds/blaszczu2500
Summary: What would you do if you woke up in a world that is in the middle of a war between machines and androids, having no knowledge about this world or how you ended up there in the first place? Because this is exactly what happened to David Miller. Things only got more weirder when he came across a rogue android...
Relationships: 2B/9S (NieR: Automata), A2 (NieR: Automata)/Original Character(s), OC/A2 (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing that David Miller felt after opening his eyes was a taste of dust in his mouth. He quickly pushed himself off his stomach onto his back and rubbed the dust off his mouth. He closed his eyes and held his right arm above his now closed eyes. Getting blinded by the sunlight instantly after opening his eyes was one of the things that he hated the most about waking up.

He moved his arm away from his eyes and opened them, before blinking a few times. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light. His gaze went over to the window under which he had just woken up and was actually quite suprised that this window didn't had any glass, like any usual window. It was just an empty hole in the wall.

He sat up and leaned against the wall before taking a good look around this room. It didn't took him that long to come to a conclusion that no one was in this room for a while now and that this place was most likely abandoned by it's former owners. The walls were grey, and there was rubble everywhere.

Time has certainly taken its tool on this room but there was one thing that stood out the most among the remains. It was a red backpack, which unlike any other thing in this room looked quite new. He stood up for a second to walk over to the backpack. He knelt down in front of it and unzipped it to see what was inside.

The first thing that caught his attention was suprising, to say the least.

It was a metal baseball bat with barbed wire wrapped around it. Despise being suprised by the fact that there was a thing like this in this backpack, David could feel a small grin forming on his lips, recalling seeing a familiar bat before, the only difference being that the bat that was on his mind one was wooden, not metal.

He placed the bat on the floor, right next to the backpack before pulling out another thing from the it which happened to be his music device with a pair of earpods. He didn't had much to say about this. Other than that he'd be able to listen to the music if he wanted to.

Canteen that was filled with water. Same here. He didn't had much to say about this.

An empty journal with a competely new pen placed between the first pages. For the third time. There wasn't much he could say about this.

And the last thing that happened to be in that backpack was his phone. He pulled it out as soon as he spotted it and tried to turn it on, but nothing happened. He tried it a few more times, just to be sure, but his every attempt ended with the same familiar black screen remaining on his phone.

He sighed as he placed his phone back in the backpack, cursing himself mentally. He must have used up batteries earlier or forgot to recharge it. He stood up from his knee and picked up the backpack from the floor. He placed it on his shoulder and lowered his right hand down to pick up the bat.

He gripped the bat tightly and walked over to the window to take a good look at the area surrounding him, hoping that it will at least give him an idea about his current location. He poked his head through the window and it unfortunely raised more questions than answers. The entire area around him looked like it was abandoned for a long time.

David visited a few abandoned places in his life with his friends to explore them, but he didn't recall any of them to even look similiar to this one. Maybe there was something wrong with his memory?

He rubbed the back of his head with his free hand in confusion and finally spoke up, to no one but himself, "Where the hell am I?"

David knew that he wasn't going to get an answer if he remained in this building. He turned away from the window and exited the room. The other rooms of this apartament were very similiar to the one in which he just woke up. Maybe except for one, because it technically didn't exit anymore because at some point the floor collapsed on the lower floor.

He exited the apartment, instantly spotting a set of stairs. He began to walk down the stairs, not even thinking about trying to search other apartaments he passed by while making his way down the stairs for all the obvious reasons.

He stepped outside and took a deep exhale of the air. He started walking forward and stopped after taking only several steps. A few seconds out in the sun were enough for him to understand that this day was a very hot one. He unzipped his black hoodie, revealing his grey t-shirt underneath it.

After unzipping his hoddie, David pushed himself into walk again and proceeded to walk further into the city, becoming even more confused by his situation. The entire city seemed to be abandoned for a long time now. The buildings looked like they haven't been cleaned for ages and the grass was overgrown. It clearly wasn't cut for a long time.

It was when something new caught his attention. Something stood ahead of him in the distance. It definitely wasn't a human. It was a robot or a machine or something similiar to that. David could already say that it was taller than him.

He had no idea if approaching it was a good idea, but he did it anyway. It must have heard him approach it. It turned back to look at David, showing it's shining yellow eyes to him.

"Human!..." The machine declared to itself after a few seconds of staring at David, "Kill!"

David's eyes snapped open after hearing this. What this machine just said? He must have misheard it, right?"

He quickly realized that he didn't misheard it when the machine took a step towards him and said, "Kill! Humans!"

"Woah, woah, woah." He said, starting to back away from it. He held his bat out in ready, knowing that it was not going to do anything to the machine in front of him, considering how big it was, but he didn't had much options when it came to defending himself from it.

"Kill..." The machine didn't listen to him. It just kept approaching him, "...Humans!

"Just listen to me." David said, knowing that it most likely wasn't going to listen to him, but it was still worth a try, "How about we just part ways and just forget that we saw each other?"

The machine ignored him, once again and repeated itself, "Kill! Humans!"

David was about to turn away from this machine to get away from it as fast as he could, but something or rather someone stopped him. His eyes snapped open when someone jumped down from one the buildings, landing between him and the machine.

There wasn't much he could say about her right now because she stood in front of him, with her back facing him. One of the things that he could say about her was that she was definitely a woman. The other thing that caught his attention was her long silver hair which was a rather unusual hair color, but he wasn't the one to judge. She could painted it to be his way. His eyes widened a bit when he saw that she was carrying a huge blade on her back.

This woman made sure to use her other weapon which happened to be a smaller blade as best as she could. A few fast, but precise slices were enough to stop the machine from moving even a step further. It stopped in it's place and twitched for a few seconds, before exploading into pieces. David breathed a sigh of relief after seeing how this machine bursted into pieces. At least it wasn't going to try to hurt him anymore.

The woman that just saved him turned around to look at him. She made sure to eye him and his appearance raised a few questions. What kind of clothes was he wearing? She didn't recall any of the androids or machines she came across in her entire life wearing clothes like his. And more importantly, how did he even managed to survive with a simple bat as his weapon?

David made sure to eye her appearence as well. Some parts of her black clothes were torn, revealing some parts of her skin.

"Thanks." He send her a grateful nod, breaking the silence that formed between them. She didn't reply to his words. She turned away from him and started to walk away, "Hey, where are you going?"

He reached out to her and placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking away from him. She stopped and reached her free hand to remove his hand from her shoulder. David raised his eyebrow. Something about her skin just felt so weird.

She turned back to look at him, feeling a bit suspicious about him. She asked him, referring to his strange appearence. She doubted that he was associated with any of the groups she was aware of, "What kind of android are you?"

David titled his head, not understanding why she was assuming him to be an android. "What are you talking about?"

"What?" The woman asked him, "Are you trying to say that you're not an android?"

"That is exactly what I'm trying to say." David nodded his head, visibly confused by everything that this unknown woman just said to him. What made her even assume that he was an android?, "I'm a human, just like you."

"What?" The woman's eyes snapped open at his words, "You're a human?"

David stared at her for a second, before nodding his head in confirmation, "Yes."

She pointed her sword at David, making him jump back a bit. He could have been playing tricks on her, "Prove it."

David eyed her, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. It didn't took him long to realize that she wasn't joking. He knew he had to think fast. Getting sliced with a sword was the last thing he wanted to happen to him right now. An idea how to prove to her that he is a human popped into his mind several seconds later.

He held his out to her. At first she looked very suspicious, but slowly came over to him. He was a bit taller than her. He was 5'7 and she was about 5'6 even with hells. He grabbed her free hand and placed it right on his beating heart. She held her hand on his heart for several seconds. She looked up at him, not saying anything, and pressed her head against his heart, wanting to be sure, making him uncomfortable.

She made him even more uncomfortable when she removed her head from his heart and took his hand into hers. She placed her hand on his wrist. David quickly realized that she was checking if he had an pulse, or it was the only explanation that came into his mind at this moment. She didn't stop there. She quickly moved her hand from her wrist to his neck.

She removed her hand from his neck a few seconds later, asking herself, "How is this possible?"

"What is so suprising about me being a human?" David asked, now it was his turn to be confused. The way how she reacted to him being a human was just so strange, "You're one too."

"I'm not a human. I'm an android." The unknown woman explained, "There are no humans left on Earth."

David blinked, now even more confused, his mind trying to process this information, "...What? Are you trying to mess with me?"

"No." The unknown woman shook her head, crossing her arms, "Have you been living under a rock for your whole life? All the humans should be on the moon! She must have lie to all us again."

Her answer only made David even more confused. Humans were living on the moon? Since when? Humans already visited the moon but they were still some years away from living on the moon or another planet. Who was the woman that she mentioned and what did she meant by " _She must have lie to all of us again?_ ". The tone of her voice when she mentioned her was telling him only one thing. That she clearly was not of a fan of her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. First of all I have never been on a moon. I just woke up in one of those buildings down the road." David began, as he pointed backwards, "Second of all. What do you mean you're an android? You look like a human to me."

She reached out to her shoulder and started pulling her skin off. David clenched his teeth, internally cringing at the view of her peeling her skin off her shoulder like it was nothing. She proceeded to do that to herself for several more seconds until she completely pulled her skin off her shoulder, revealing what was underneath it to the human. His eyes quickly caught the sight of metallic bones.

"Okay." He slowly nodded his head, "I believe you now."

His answer was enough to her. She reattached her skin back to her shoulder, asking him, "What are you doing here?"

"I already told you. I just woke up in one of the buildings." David answered, as he pointed at the parts of the machine that she just killed, "What was the machine or robot that you just killed? Is there more of them around?

The android seemed suprised by his question, before answering it a moment later as if it was the most obvious thing ever. He really had no idea about everything around,"Yes."

David sighed, starting to turn away from her, "At least I will now know that I shouldn't approach one like an idiot."

"Wait!" She told him, raising her voice a bit. He turned back to look at her, hearing her say to him, "I'm coming with you. It is my duty as an android to protect the mankind and this is exactly what I am going to do."

She didn't had to wait long for David to reply. He didn't seem to have much options right now and after all, she just saved him from that one machine. The choice how to answer to her offer was quite obvious to him, "Alright, but tell me your name, if you have one. I don't want to call you android for the entire time."

The android was silent for a few seconds before replying, "A2."

"A2." David repeated her name, nodding his head in understanding. At least it will be easy for him to remember it. Her name was a bit odd, but it was most likely a normal name among the androids, "I'm David."

She nodded her head in response. She started to walk forward as David bit his lips before following her, knowing that coming with her was his best option right now.

They were unaware that a dark clothed figure was watching them from the top of one of the buildings. This figure's eyes followed David who increased his speed to catch up to A2 only seconds before both of them disappeared from it's view.

It adjusted it's hood before vanishing, leaving nothing but ashes which floated away alongside the air...


	2. First Day

David continued to follow A2 through the city for a while now. He had no idea how much time has actually passed since she saved him from that machine that was going to attack him, because the only device on which he could check it was still not working. The sun wasn't helping either. He still felt as if it still was the same time of the day.

He tried to start a talk with his new traveling companion a few times, but their talks never really lasted that long because her answers were always short and complete. She certainly wasn't a talkive person, or android in this case. He was still having hard time believing that A2 was an android. He saw a few androids in his life, mostly on the internet, but they were still far away from being on the same level as A2 was.

They came across a lot of machines during their little walk through the city, which of course attacked them without hesitation the moment they set their eyes on them, especially on him, but they weren't much of a trouble for them, because A2 easily took all of them out with her blades. David could only imagine how hard it would be for him to move around this town if he wasn't with her at this moment.

He rubbed his eyelids, feeling how he was becoming more tired. He looked up and saw the sun which was still on the sky, shining brightly. He placed his hand on his throat, feeling it drying up. He reached into his backpack and pulled his canteen out. He took a small sip, knowing that it was his only source of water for now and that he had to save it, especially that he drank over a half of it now.

"For how long were we walking?" He asked his android companion right after taking a sip.

A2's answer was quick, as she proceeded to walk forward, "A few hours, maybe."

"A few hours?" David asked, "I still feel like it's the same time of the day."

"What do you mean by that?" A2 asked him, wanting to know if he meant what she thought he meant.

"Haven't you noticed it?" David asked her in return, pointing his index finger upwards at the sun, only to lower it a second later, "That the sun is still shining as if it was the same time of the day, even though it definitely isn't if a few hours passed?"

"You don't know that?" A2 asked him another queston in response, not even turning to look at him, "Sun remains on the sky for the entire time, even during the night times."

It took several seconds for David's brain to register ths information, "...What?"

A2 looked over her shoulder and shook her head at him with a sigh leaving her mouth, "You really are clueless, aren't you?"

"I can't really blame myself for that, you know?" David rolled his eyes at her comment, "I just woke up a few hours in a place that I have now knowledge of. I think that I may be allowed to not know anything about this place."

She didn't respond to his words. She continued to walk forward as David placed his canteen back in his backpack. He pushed himself into walk again and increased his speed a bit to catch up to her. He went back to his normal pace when he made his way over to her, now walking right next to her. The two of them just walked through the town for the next few minutes in completel silence which was broken when they heard something moving in their direction.

A2 held her hand out to David, signaling him to stop as her blade instantly appeared in her grasp. She turned in the direction of the sound, readying herself to take out another machines, but it wasn't a machine. A huge boar ran right in front of them, as her and David's gaze followed the animal, only to see it join a few other boars in the distance. The human made sure to eye all of the boars carefully, not recalling seeing a boar this huge before.

Watching all of these boards made him realize that he hasn't eaten anything since his awakening. He bit his lips, placing his hand on his stomach, "Uh, A2."

"What?" She wanted to know as her blade disappeared from her hand only to appear on her back a second later.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food with you?" David answered.

A2 pointed at his backpack, "You don't have any food in this?"

"No." David shook his head, "If I had I would have already dig into it."

A2 turned away from him and looked around her surroundings, before setting her gaze on one of the buildings. She started moving towards it, and made a quick gesture with her head towards David, telling him to follow her without saying any words. David followed her into the building, walking closely behind A2 as her blade appeared in her grasp once again.

She walked ahead of him, eyeing everything around her, trying to spot if there were any machines in this building. It took her a few moments to assure herself that there weren't any, at least at this moment. She entered one room, before turning to look at David who entered it right after her.

"Stay here. If something will happen, find a place to hide." She told him as she gave one last glance before turning towards the exit from the room, "I'll be back soon."

David just nodded his head to that as A2 walked out of the room and out of the building, leaving him alone. He walked over to one spot in the room and sat down, leaning against the wall. For the next several minutes, he just stared at the wall in front of him, not doing anything. He knew that it may take some time for A2 to find some food for him, so he wasn't excepting her to return in the next few minutes. He really wished that his phone was working because he'd be able to play a game to kill some time.

It was when he recalled one thing that he found in the backpack right after his awakening. He grabbed his backpack and unzipped it. He reached into it and pulled out the journal. He never really had one before. Maybe except for one time when tried starting one when he was younger, but stopped writing in it a few days later, as he grew bored of it.

He put his backpack aside, and pulled out the pen that was still between the pages of the journal. At first he made sure that it was working. It looked new, but it wouldn't hurt him if he made sure, right? He drew a small square on the first page, making sure that the pen was working, before starting to write the first entry in it.

_Day 1_

_This was a very confusing day and it is just a gentle way of putting it..._

It took him some time to write shorter version of what happened today. He stopped writing when he reached the part when A2 left him in this building to get some food for him. He closed his journal and placed it back in his backpack. He was about to reach into it to pull out his music device and earbuds, but stopped when he heard someone enter the building.

He stood up from the floor and picked up his bat. He raised it in the air, but lowered it a bit when he heard the sound of heels touching the floor. It must have been A2 returning with some food for him, but on the other side, he couldn't be so sure about that. All of his suspicions vanished when he saw A2 enter the room, carrying a boar steak.

"Where did you get that?" He asked her, before realizing how stupid this question was.

"I killed one of the boars we saw before entering this building and then cooked it in a bonfire for a few moments." She explained as if it was the most obvious thing, as she held the steak out to him.

David placed his bat aside and took his meal from her, giving her a grateful nod of his head, "Thanks."

She just gave him as silent nod of her head in return as David sat down in the same spot as before. The steak wasn't as hot as he excepted it to be when he set his eyes on it, but he wasn't complaning about it. He eyed his meal for a second before digging in, eating it without any fork or knife because there obviously wasn't any around.

It tasted bad to say the least. A2 definitely wasn't a good cook, but he couldn't blame her for that. He doubted that she had need to cook something before. He wasn't going to complain about it, though. It was the only food he had right now and he was hungry and was going to eat it anyway. It still wasn't the worst thing he has ever eaten. There were a few things that were way ahead of it. The food that he made for himself were way ahead of it. He wouldn't give the food that he made to the worst dog.

It took him a few minutes to finish his meal. He glanced over at A2, "Thanks."

"You already said that." She pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"I know." David shrugged his shoulders. He grabbed his backpack and reached into it. He pulled out his music device and his earbuds, wanting to kill some time with it. He placed one earbud in his ear, and left the other one hanging down his chest to his knees. He always kept one earbud out of his ear when he was with someone, to make sure that he was going to hear everything around him. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

"Are trying to contact someone?" A2 asked him, never having a chance to see music device before.

David shook his head in response, "No. I'm going to listen to the music."

"To what?" A2 asked, confused.

"Music" David answered, becoming confused as well, "You don't have have it here?"

"No." A2's answer was short and quick.

"What about TV shows?" David asked her another question.

A2 remained silent. This response was enough for David.

David continued, "Video games?"

Again, completele silence.

David sighed, running out of options, "Books?"

'I saw a few in the ruins but I never paid attention to them because they never really interested me." A2 explained.

"It's better than nothing, I guess." David nodded his head to that. He'd have to make sure to search some ruins to look for any books in the future, but to be honest, he doubted that he'll find ones that he likes to read, like Lord of the Rings or the Witcher. He placed one earbud in his ear, and held the other one out to A2, offering it to her, "Do you want to listen?"

A2 shook her head, "No."

"Are you sure?" David asked, wanting to be sure.

A2 nodded her head in confirmination before moving towards the exit from the room, "I'll be standing on guard."

She stopped in the doorway just a few seconds later, and stared ahead of her, as if she was just waiting for someone or something to enter this room. David shrugged his shoulders to that, before pressing the button on his music device, turning it on and the first song started playing just a second later. If David was honest with himself, he didn't really had favourite type of music. Everytime when a song caught his ear, he just started listening to it.

He slowly moved his head back and forth to the sound of the song ringing in his ears for a few minutes before it ended and switched into another song. He could feel a smile growing on his face when he heard what song was next and he could have sworn that A2 send him a look, clearly weirded out by it.

He spent the next hour listening to the music, eventually earning a look from A2 who stood on the guard for this entire hour, not saying a word to him. It seemed like they were going to stay in this building for some time. Perharps it was time to earn some answers for the questions that were bugging him since he awoke in that apartament.

He turned his music device off, and the earbud from his ear before calling out to his traveling companion, "Hey, A2."

"What?" She asked him.

"What year is it?" David wanted to know. This question was one of the first ones that appeared in his mind today.

"11945." A2 answered after a few seconds.

David's eyes snapped open as he could feel how his heart almost stopped after hearing her answer. What did she mean by 11945? It was supposed to be 2020 if he recalled correctly! What the hell happened to him? What was he doing here? How did he found himself over 9 thousand years in the future? A2 turned back to look at him, and from the expression on her face, he could tell that she wasn't messing with him.

He placed his hand on his forehead, his mind trying process what he had just heard. He couldn't remember the last time when he was that nervous about something, and he couldn't blame himself for it. Anyone would react the same way in his situation. He could feel a deep nervous breath leaving his lungs, which was followed by another one and another one. He placed his hand on his chest, trying to steady his breathing.

A2 noticed that something was wrong with him and immediately rushed over to him. She knelt down in front of him, and placed her hand on his shoulder, "What's wrong? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine." David took one deep breath after another, giving her an assuring look. He remained silent for a few more seconds, his nervous breathing being the only thing that A2 got from him. He cleared his throat after a moment, now calmed down a bit, "I have..."

He was cut off when A2 placed her hand on his neck. His answer didn't seem to be enough for A2. She wanted to sure for herself if he was okay. She started checking his entire body, starting with checking his pulse on his neck and his wrist. David felt really uncomfortable as he clenched his teeth, while his android companion assured herself that there was nothing wrong with him.

When she removed her hand from his chest, he asked instantly asked her, "Was this really necessary?"

A2 nodded her head in confirmation and crossed her arms, "It was."

"If you say so." He told her in response, before going back to what he was going to say before she interrupted, "I have a few questions. I know that may sound a bit dumb to you, but how long was it since humans started living on the Moon?"

He was right. This question really felt dumb to A2. He was a human. He should have know about this. At the same time, this human being completely clueless about everything around him felt so strange to her. He didn't had to wait long for her to answer, "Humanity fled to the Moon to escape the alien invasion that took place in 5012, that used those dammed machines that now infest the planet as their weapons."

David could feel his eye widen a bit at this information. It was really that long since humanity had to leave the Earth? And it was caused by an alien invasion which is the reason why he came across so many machines trying to kill him today?

A2 didn't stop there. She continued her explanation, "Androids were send down to the Earth as the humanity's weapon to fight off the invasion, forming a Resistance against them across the globe."

"I assume that you're one of them, then." David stated.

"I was created as a YoRHa android..." A2 was interrupted by the human.

David raised his brow, interrupting her, "YoRHa?"

"Our task is to reclaim Earth for the human race and it was given to us by the Council of Humanity on the Moon..." A2 paused for a second, "But I'm not with YoRHa. Not anymore."

David titled his head to the side, wondering what made her abandon YoRHa, "Why?"

"Command betrayed me." A2 answered, her tone changing into more of an angry one, as she clenched her fists in anger, an angry frown forming on her face.

David noted the way how she reacted. It must have been a really touchy subject for her. It raised another question in his mind. Was this Command that she just mentioned the same android that she spoke of when she mentioned someone lying to them again right after finding out that he isn't an android?

"Hey." He told her, knowing that nothing good will come out of trying to make her tell him about this. The last thing he needed right now was pissing off the only one that didn't try to kill him today, "You don't need to tell me that if you don't want to."

A2 stared at him for a second before nodding her head. She stood up and walked back to the doorway, stopping herself in front of it, standing on the guard in case if any machine was going to enter this building.

A few questions appeared in David's mind during the little talk that he had with A2 just a few seconds ago, but it was obvious for him that he wasn't going to get more answers from her at this moment. One of the questions that was on his mind at this moment was what was the Resistance that she just mentioned, or what was the difference between Resistance and YoRHa. He didn't had need of asking her what the Council of Humanity was because the answer was quite obvious to him.

It was when a tired yawn escaped his mouth. it's been only a few hours since he awoke, but this day was certainly a long one. A good nap would be good for him after everything that happened in the past few hours, right? He took his hoddie off, beginning to form it into a small pillow. It would be much comfortable for him to place his head on it than just on the floor.

A2 turned around to look at him, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take a few hour nap." David explained.

"Didn't you awoke only a few minutes before I found you?" A2 pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm still tired, and I can't really tell for how long was I sleeping in that apartament." David answered. The last memory he had before waking up in that apartament was going out with his best friend Colin to hang out.

He lay down on the floor, placing his head on top of his hoddie pillow. He was about to close his eyes, but stopped when he saw something or rather someone standing in the corner of this room. At first he thought he was just seeing things, so he simply blinked a few times, thinking that the figure will disappear from his view, but this figure remained in the corner, proceeding to stare at him and A2. He sat straight up and rubbed his eyes, only to see it gone, ashes which fell on the floor were all that was left of it.

He turned to look at A2 who only stared at him, confused, "What were you looking at?"

"It's nothing." David shook his head, "I was just seeing things."

With that he lay back down and slowly drifted into sleep.


	3. The Commercial Facility

David let out a yawn as he awoke from his slumber. He couldn't believe that it was over a week, now. A week has passed since he was introduced to a world that was completely new to him after he woke up in some abandoned apartament, and he wouldn't call these days the easiest ones in his life.

During all of these days, he couldn't help but shake off the feeling that something was following him, and he didn't mean A2 by that. Everytime, when he thought about that, his mind always returned to the figure that he spotted on his first day in the moment when he was trying to fall sleep in the room that his android companion brought him to. At first he thought that his mind was just playing tricks with him, but now he was starting to think that he may have been wrong about this figure being just a product of his imagination.

Machines still were the biggest pain to him and the android which was his traveling companion for these past few days. They weren't much a problem to them when they came across a single one, or a small group of of them, because A2 would get rid of them in a matter of seconds, but trouble appeared when they encountered a larger group of them. It resulted in a few dangerous situations when a machine used an opportunity which was given to it while A2 was busy taking care of his buddies and approached David. Fortunely, nothing ever happened to him when it happened, because A2 would instantly come to his rescue.

Speaking of A2, he had gotten her to open herself up a bit. A lot of her answers were still short and straight to the point, but he was able to hold a conversation with her several times. She told him about a lot of things that he didn't had chance to ask her about during his first day, one of those things being what a Black Box was, but she was still refusing to tell him how did the Commander of YoRHa betrayed her, but he wasn't going to push it. He was grateful for her for everything she was doing. He didn't even want to think what would happen to him if she wasn't with him for these past few days.

Food and water weren't much of a problem to him and A2. There were many animals splattered around the town and one of them disappearing and becoming his meal each day wasn't making much difference. The only problem that they had with food was the fact that neither of them were able to cook something decent. He wasn't complaining about it though, it was still better than staying hungry and he had already gotten used to the taste.

The first thing he saw after opening his eyes was the ceiling of the room where he and A2 took shelter a few hours ago, so he could have some sleep, without having to worry about the machines that much. There was still risk of the machine entering the building and attacking him and A2, but it was still much safer than sleeping outside.

He rubbed his eyes and sat straight up before leaning his back against the wall to see A2 standing in front of him. He offered her a quick wave, "Hey. For how long was I sleeping?

"For as long as usual." A2 answered as David stood up from the floor. She came over to him and held the canteen which she recently refilled with boiled water out to the human.

"Thanks." He told her as he took his canteen from her. He opened it and took a quick sip of water.

"Hungry?" She asked him, "Should I prepare something before we move out?"

David closed his canteen to make sure he wasn't going to spill any water and put it down on the floor, next to his boot before placing his hand on his stomach. He was silent for a few seconds before replying, and shaking his head, "No. I'm fine."

A2 gave him a short nod of her head and headed towards the exit from the room, "Make sure you have everything. We'll be heading out in a few minutes."

He responded with a nod of his head as he picked up his canteen from the floor. He turned away from her and walked back towards his sleeping spot. He got himself on his knees and at first made sure to grab his backpack and place his canteen back in it. His eyes quickly caught the sight of his journal. He kept writing more entries in it for the past week, but most of them were rather similiar to each other. His music device, which he was using quite often was there as well.

He zipped his backpack and slouched it over his back. He turned his gaze towards his hoddie which he as usual formed into a small pillow before going to sleep. He wasn't going to put it on, now. At first he wanted to find out if the day was too him for him to wear it. He stood up from his knee and picked up his hoodie. He placed it over his shoulder before picking up his last thing which was his metal baseball bat.

He turned towards the exit and walked out of the room and saw A2 waiting for him. She turned to give him a quick look, "Let's go."

David nodded his head as they headed out of house. They walked down the stairs, with A2 walking in the front and David walking closely behind her and exited the building several seconds later. He was instantly greeted by a large shadow which was covering a good portion of the area around him and A2. He forgot that the buildings were covering the sun. He'd have to make his way to the more unconvered area to check if he should wear his hoddie today, or at least the area where the sun was not covered by something.

They pushed themselves into walk, with David walking right next to A2 and walked between the building for a few minutes, not saying a word to each other. A few minutes later they turned around the corner and were greeted by the sunlight as the entered a bit more grassy area. Grass was clearly overgrown, which wasn't too suprising. He could also spot a few trees and creek which was going through this area. The thing that stood out the most about this area was a tall tower standing in the distance.

"Let's stop for a second." He told A2, as he held his hand in front of his eyes for a few seconds. A few seconds out in the sun was enough for him to understand that this day, or at least for now would definitely be too hot for him to wear a hoddie. He placed it baseball bat on the ground before taking his hoddie off his shoulder. He quickly tied it around himself.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" He heard A2 ask him.

"I wanted to make sure if this day will be too hot for me to wear it." David explained, turning to look at her as he took his baseball bat back into his grasp.

They started walking again and slowly started to make their way through the area. They didn't walk for long. They stopped only a few moments later when they saw a group of smaller machines heading towards them, with only one obvious intention. A2 frowned at the view in front of her as her blade appeared in her grasp. She turned to look at David who offered her a quick nod of his head and stepped backwards a bit, wanting to stay away from the fight.

A2 looked over her shoulder, to make sure the human she was protecting was in the safe distance before rushing towards the machines. The fight didn't last long. She already had killed more of these smaller machines than she could count and the ones she was fighting right now were just another ones added to her list. It was just a matter of several seconds before all of the machines exploded into pieces, leaving almost nothing out of them.

Her blade disappeared from her grasp and appeared right on her back as David approached her, walking past the remains of the machines she just killed. A2 only gave him a small nod of her head, telling him that it was safe for him to move forward without saying any words. David nodded his head back at her as they moved forward again, and stopped once again when they came across a long bridge which was leading towards some large building in the distance.

David made sure to eyes the bridge in front of them carefully. It looked bad, to say the least. His attention was especially focused on the rusty metal parts of it. He turned to look at the android accompaying him and pointed at the bridge, "Is it going to hold us both?"

"It will." A2 nodded her head in response.

"Are you sure?" He asked her, wanting to be sure.

"Yes." A2 rolled her eyes. He didn't need to ask her that. She already told him that this bridge was going to hold them both.

"Just wanted to be sure." David told her, still unsure if walking across this bridge was a good idea.

A2 noticed that he was still having second thoughts about crossing this bridge. She took a few steps forward, beginning to make her way to the other side as David, even though he still looked hesitant about it and the huge abyss under it wasn't helping either, began following her. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if the bridge didn't end up holding them both at the same time.

He let out a relieved sigh when they made their way to the other side, "We made it."

"Why were you so hesitant about walking across it even after I told you we'll be fine?" A2 wanted to know.

"Better safe than sorry, ri..." David stopped in the middle of the sentence when he heard something coming towards them. It was quite obvious to him what it was.

It was obvious to A2 as well. She turned in the direction of the sound and saw another group of machines heading towards them. It was almost the same as the group she fought off a few moment ago, the only difference being the fact that this group was lead by one taller machine. Her larger blade appeared in her grasp when she decided which machine she was going to get rid of at first.

"Stay back." She told David, before charging towards the taller machine. It leaped itself forward, intending to get itself closer to the android and the human faster than it's smaller companions. It landed right in front of A2 who stepped away from it, to avoid the impact of this machine landing on the ground.

She made her way back towards the machine as quickly as she stepped away from it and swung her large blade at it, hitting it two times. The machine was still standing and A2 knew pretty well how to end this dammed machines life. She threw her sword, and it went spinning around right in the direction of the taller machine which ended up with it receiving two more hits.

Her smaller blade appeared in her hand as her larger one returned to her back as the taller machine stopped where it stood. It just stood for a second or two before bursting into pieces, leaving only the smaller machines for A2 to deal with. They had finally reached them, but none of them was able to land a single hit on the android who finished all of them off, without any problem.

She turned away from the remains of the machines she just killed and turned back to look at David to see the human walking towards her. He stopped right next to her, gazing at the opened entrance to the building, "Do you think there is going to be more of them in this building?"

"I don't know." A2 answered, still holding her blade in her grip as she turned towards the entrance to the building. They walked through the entrance, entering the building. She made sure to eye her surroundings very carefully to see that the building was completely empty and there wasn't any machine in her sight, for now.

"It appears we're in an old commercial facility." She heard David say next to her as she turned to look at him, "I used to visit one from time to time with my friends to see what was new in stores, or to buy something new."

She turned to look at the human to see him looking around their new surroundings. David made sure to eye everything as best as he could as he proceeded to make his way through the abandoned commercial facility with A2. One of the things that his eyes caught the sight of was a set of stairs leading to what appeared to a elevator. A huge tree which was growing right to the roof of the facility was standing right between the stairs.

A2 turned her gaze away from him when they walked past the stairs and tree. She quickly spotted an entrance which would lead them to another area. They were lucky that the rusty gate wasn't shutting the entrance, otherwise they'd have to go back. Even she wouldn't be able to move it, no matter how hard she'd tried.

She looked at David and made a quick gesture with her head which told him to follow her through it. She stopped herself from walking through it when she heard David say a quick, "Wait a second." to her.

She turned to look at him, "What?"

"Can we stop here for a moment?" David asked her in return, wanting to explore this place, mostly the stores, "Maybe I'll find something in one of those stores."

A2 was silent for a few seconds, before replying, "Make it quick."

"You can go explore this place with me if you want to." David offered. He asked her this question everytime when he wanted to explore some place, but she always replied with the same answer, but it wouldn't hurt him for trying, right?

"No. I'll stay here." A2 declined his offer, "You know what to do if you'll come across a machine or see one."

David nodded his head to that, knowing what she meant by that. Everytime when they were out together, and he came across a place that he wanted to explore, hoping to find something useful, A2 always remained on guard, telling him to start running and call out for her if he'll need her help. Fortunely, he never came across any trouble while exploring some place that caught his attention.

Maybe except for that one time when a flying machine appeared out of nowhere. He started running away from and called out for help and she quickly rushed to his aid, taking care of the flying machine before it could do any harm to him.

"I'll be fine. We're the only ones in this building and besides, I survived your cooking to this point, didn't I?" He told the android, adding the second part to mess with her a bit with a small smirk forming on his lips.

A2 rolled her eyes at this comment, annoyed by it, "I didn't really had a reason to cook before. You can always make food for yourself if you want to."

David just chuckled at her response, knowing that it wouldn't made any difference in taste if he'd start preparing food for himself. He turned away from her and began his exploration of the commercial facility. He made his way up the rusty moving stairs which obviously weren't working anymore, intending to search through the stores on the second floor at first. Unfortunely searching through the stores didn't went the way he planned it to because he couldn't access most of the stores.

The only store that he was able to access was some old clothes store on the first floor which was placed right behind the not working moving stairs. He grabbed the handle of the doors and stopped himself from opening it when he saw the alarm right above him.

At first he was worried a bit that he may turn the alarm on by doing it, which could have lead something with not so good intentions right to him and A2, but his worries were short lived when he realized that the alarm was probably not working anymore. This realization turned out to be true when he entered the store without the sound of alarm ringing going through his ears.

The first thing he did after entering was searching through some old shirts. He stopped after a minute and he lowered his head a bit and sniffed his shirt, cringing at the smell. He really could use a bath, or two.

He turned back when he heard someone walk over to the clothes shop and saw A2 standing in front of the entrance to it, with her back facing him. David simply shrugged his shoulders to that. He continued to search through the clothes. Perharps he could find his android companion something new to wear. She really could use some new clothes. He didn't even want to mention a certain awkward situation when they were climbing a ladder and she was above him.

He proceeded to search through the store for a few more minutes, not finding anything worth taking with him. The only thing that really caught his attention was some old black cap. He took it from the shop shelf and waved it in front of him, getting rid of the dust that was covering it. He placed it right over his head and after making some adjustments, it fit his head perfectly. At least since now, he was going to have something to protect his eyes from the sun.

Not having any need to stay in this store for any second longer, he exited it and looked at A2, "I thought that you wanted to stay on guard." When A2 didn't respond, he added, assuming it to be the reason, "I told you that you don't need to worried."

"I wasn't worried." A2 told him, "I'm being cautious."

"If you say so." David responded.

"Did you checked everything you wanted?" A2 wanted to know if they were going to head out of this place now.

"Yes." David answered with a nod of his head, "We can go now."

A2 was about to turn towards their next destination but stopped when she noticed something new in David's outfit, "What do you need this for?"

"To protect my eyes from the sun." David explained.

A2 nodded her head to that as she turned towards the exit from the commercial facility on the other side of the building. They made their way back to it and came through it and David's eyes almost immediately caught the sight of a more forested area.

It was when, completely out of the sudden, the gate behind them went down, slamming into the ground, creating a loud thump at the impact. David jumped in his place a bit, clearly starled by it, a few seconds before he and his traveling companion turned back to look at the gate. A sigh escaped his lips and he could hear A2 letting out a frustated groan next to him.

This day had just gotten better...


	4. The Forest

David shook his head and could feel a sigh escaping his lungs as A2's frustated groan rang through his ears. He stared at the now shut entrance to the commercial facility in front of them. He turned away from the gate and looked at A2 to see her staring angrily at the gate.

"Great." His android companion said, frustation in her voice was evident, "This is just perfect."

"What's wrong?" David asked her, as he pointed at the gate, "Can't we just lift it up?"

"I won't be able to lift it, even if I'll try my best, and besides, If I could do it, wouldn't I have already done that?" A2 answered to which David just nodded in understanding. If an android wouldn't be able to lift it, then he didn't even had to try to know that he wouldn't be able to do it as well.

He rubbed the back of his head, as he asked her another question which popped into his mind, "Is there any other exit from the area that we just entered?"

"Not the one I'm aware of." A2 replied.

David gave her a small nod of his head in response. Hopefully they will find the other way out of this area and they won't end up stuck in there, "We'll find have to find another one, then if we don't want to end up stuck in this area. Hopefully it won't take long."

"Stay close to me." A2 said, as she turned away from the gate, now facing the path ahead of them.

"I know." David said in response as he too turned to look at the path in front of them, having a chance to hear these words so many times during this week.

They pushed themselves into a walk and started heading down the path leading into what David instantly assumed to be a forest. Everything about their surroundings was simply telling him that it was one. He quickly got the confirmation to his suspicions when they stepped further into the path and saw a large tree between the two other paths.

Neither of them could see where the path on the right was leading but the one on the left seemed to be a dead end to both of them, because it was ending with a stony wall as soon as it started. The choice which path to choose next was quite obvious to them. They made their way through the path on the right which took them straight into the forest.

David looked around himself to eye his new surroundings, because it was his first time in this place, but unfortunely didn't had any time to do when a mechanical voice cried out from the distance, "Aim for the enemy android! Engage battle mode!"

A2 instantly reacted to that as her sword instantly appeared in her grasp as she and David turned to the source of the voice to see a few machines standing in the distance. David was not even trying to hide his suprise when his eyes caught their sight.

The machines were charging in what appeared to look like a some sort of formation. There were two rows of three spear wielding small machines charging in front of another machine which rode on top a thing which at first seemed to be an animal but turned out to be another machine which just looked like an animal for some reason. This view quickly made him think of the medieval times.

The machine riding on the animal-like machine rised up it's spear in the air and cried out to it's fellow machines in front of it, "Now! Fight for your king!"

"For the king!" The machines in front of it yelled out in unison as they charged towards the android and the human who they mistaken for another android standing some meters ahead of them.

A2 gave David a quick look and he immediately knew what she meant by that. He stepped backwards a bit as A2 charged at the machines, with the obvious intention of taking all of them out. The human watched how A2 made her way over to the machines and started fighting with them. What made David even more suprised as he watched the fight from his spot was the fact that, these machines didn't seem to attack randomly, once they'd get an opportunity to strike. They actually seemed to have a plan of how to fight back.

This didn't seem to cause a lot of problems to A2, though. The only problem she had to face while fighting them was when the machines in the first row started moving their spears forward at the same time, attempting to either stab her or to make her step away, making this fight last a bit longer than the usual fight between her and the machines as she had to make sure to avoid getting stabbed.

A2's larger blade appeared in her grasp and she spun it around. It made one of the machines drop it's spear on the ground as it was send flying away from the android and it's fellow machines who weren't destroyed by her, yet. It slammed into a tree and it unfortunely happened to be right next to David. The machine rose back up to the ground and immediately forgot about A2 as it was found itself right next to her companion who stayed out of the fight for this entire time.

The human noticed that he caught this machines attention as it started making his way towards him. He knew that the machines were keeping A2 away from him, so he did the first thing that came into his mind. He swung his metal baseball bat at the machine, hitting it, which was followed by another swing as he made sure to take a step back with each hit this machine took.

He didn't even know if it was doing any damage to this machine at all, because it wasn't a sword or anything similiar to one but it was still better than nothing and nothing else was coming into his mind right now. The only good thing about this was the fact that this machine already received some damage from A2 and was already a bit damaged thanks to her.

He was about to bring his bat down on this machine for the third time, but stopped himself from doing so when he saw A2 rushing over to his aid. He stepped away from the machine, allowing A2 to take care of the rest and it was just a matter of seconds before the machine was finished off, once and for all and bursted into pieces.

The human placed his hands on his knees and let out a relieved breath. That was a close one. He looked up when he felt A2 place her hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright? Did it harmed you in any way?"

"Don't worry." David gave her an assuring nod, "I'm okay."

After a moment of A2 checking his body to make sure that he didn't receive any damage from the machine and David reassuring her that there was nothing wrong with him during this entire process, the two of them set off and started making their way through the forest.

As they pushed themselves into a walk again, the human's mind returned the machines that they just encountered. They mentioned some king right before attacking them, which most likely meant that they formed some sort of kingdom in this forest? The fact that they instantly reminded him of the medieval times when he spotted them was only making his theory more believable.

They next time they will come across machines in this forest, He will have to make sure to stay away from them as best as he can during another encounter because they were as hostile as any other machines he had encountered since his awakening. He didn't want to find himself in another situation as before.

He and A2 continued to make their way through the forest, passing by a few animals in the process and the first thing that made them stop was when they found themselves standing in front of a small creek with a beautiful waterfall going down from the rocks above it. David took his new cap off and placed it next to him before kneeling down in front of the creek and splashing some water over his face, shuddering at first at how cold the water was, but he was already excepting it.

He got himself off his knees back to his feet and gave A2 a signal that they may continue, wiping the water off his face with his shirt, creating some wet spots on it.

"Why did you do that?" A2 asked him, beginning to walk again, next to him.

David placed his cap over his head again, "I just wanted to wash my face."

It wasn't too long before they came across another machines from this forest, but fortunely for him and A2, this time the fight with them didn't result with David having to keep a machine away from his with his bat as A2 made sure that it will not happen again today.

They proceeded to go further in the forest and only a few minutes after fighting off another machines, they found themselves staring at one massive yard with the remains of something placed in the middle of this yard which was literally filled with these machines who were all carrying weapons. At least they didn't had to fight them because they managed to find a way around them without getting spotted.

An hour of doing nothing but exploring this forest passed and the effects of not eating anything after waking up were starting to show in David as he started to feel hungry, and now he and A2 had to find a safe place where the human could eat a meal, without having to worry about the machines attacking them during his meal.

Luckilly, searching for a safe place didn't took them as long they were excepting. They had taken a temporary shelter in a cave nearby the same abyss which they had to pass while making their way through the bridge a while ago. A2 quickly started a bonfire and had begun preparing a steak of an animal that she slayed while they were looking for a place where David could eat his meal.

David took his backpack off and placed it on his lap as he stared at the bonfire in front of him, leaning against the rocky wall, sitting next to A2.

"Now that we're waiting for it to be done." He began, finding staying here as another opportunity to offer something to her as A2 turned her gaze away from the bonfire and turned to look at him. He reached into his pockets and pulled out his earbuds, "How about we'll listen to a song or two."

"No." A2 shook her head, giving him the same answer as usual, "You keep asking me that everyday and my answer is still the same. When will you understand that I'm not interested in this?"

The human shrugged, "It won't to hurt me if I'll keep trying."

A2 sighed, "You're not going to stop until I'll agree?"

"Maybe." David smirked, slowly realizing where this was going.

"...Let's just get this over with." A2 said after a moment of silence, wanting to be done with it as fast as possible. At least he'll stop bugging her about it.

David smiled at her, now that she finally agreed to give it a try. He handed his earbuds to her and she, seeing how he was using it for the last week, placed both of them in her ears. She kept her diamond blue eyes on David who pulled out his music device from his backpack and turned it on, not even taking a glance on his music device to see what song was going to played.

Only a few seconds later an unfamiliar sound started to ring through A2's ears. She was silent, focusing on the music playing through her ears. She didn't know why but she was enjoying this. The sound was pleasant. She was starting to understand why David was using this device so often since they started traveling together. This song wasn't a long one. It ended pretty quickly, lasting about three minutes.

She reached out for the earbuds and pulled them out of her ears, before holding it out to her human companion, "It was nice."

"I'm glad you liked it." David smiled as he grabbed his earbuds from her, "If you will ever want to listen to it, don't be nervous to ask."

A2 responded with a small nod of her head before she turned her gaze back to the bonfire, to make that the steak was going to be at least eatible. David hid his earbuds in his pocket as he turned his gaze towards his music device to see what kind of song A2 just listened to. His bit his lips when he saw the title which said "Wye Oak: Civilian" and a certain scene from which this song came from appeared in his mind.

"David." He was taken away from his thoughts as A2 spoke up to him, as she kept her gaze on the bonfire. She paused for a second as if was trying to bring herself to say it, "Can you tell me something about human kingdoms?"

David's furrowed his brows a bit, as he was not excepting her to ask him a question like that. He was silent for a moment, trying to figure out the fastest definition of a kingdom in his mind. He spoke up to her several seconds later, hoping that what he was going to say to her was going to make at least a bit sense.

The rest of the wait for his meal, David spend telling A2 everything he could about human kingdoms and medieval times. It wasn't much, because his knowledge about these times wasn't anything remarkable, but A2 seemed satisfied with the information she got from him and it was actually one of the longest coversations he had with her since they started traveling together.

The taste wasn't anything special, as usual, but he had already gotten used to it. After he finished his meal, he pulled out his canteen and took a long sip of water. He placed it back in his backpack before slouching it over his shoulder as A2 put the fire out. Having no longer need to stay there, they headed out of the cage. They already knew where to head next.

When they were making their way over to the cave after spotting it, they noticed something that may help them get to the other side. It most likely would lead them to a large building that looked like some sort of castle which was pretty visible from their current position in front of the abyss and perharps it would led them to finding another exit from this forest as well, now that the one they used to enter this area was shut down at this moment.

The road to their next destination was mostly uneventful. They didn't come across any of these medieval machines for most of the road, but something made them stop after several minutes of walking. That something the sound of a fight not too far from them. They started heading in the direction of this fight, because it happened to be coming from the same direction they were walking and would have to deal with it anyway.

They made their way over to the sound and took a quick glance at what was going on. The sight they were greeted by was suprising to say the least. A few smaller machines were attacking a larger machine who had it's hands placed on it's head. It actually looked like it was cowering in fear.

"Help!" The machine cried out for help, "Somebody help! Please!"

"Are those machines fighting each other?" A2 asked herself. She has never seen anything like that before.

David couldn't stop his eyes from widening in suprise. Machines fighting each other? He hasn't seen anything like that since his awakening last week. He turned to look at A2 to see her reaction and from her expression he could easily say she has never seen anything like that either and she was active for... he actually had no idea for how long she was active.

"What should we do?" He asked but never received his answer as A2 stepped out, sending him a quick look, telling him to stay hidden in the bushes without saying a single word to him.

The smaller machines attacking a larger one quickly forgot what they were just doing when they saw A2 heading towards them with her blade already in ready. They started making their way towards her but none of them had a chance to even land a single hit on the long haired android who got rid of them as quickly as she could, leaving nothing but remains of them on the ground left.

"Thank you so much for saving me." The machine thanked them, sounding actually grateful and relieved as David walked out of his hiding spot in the bushes and approached A2 and the machine that she just saved from the other machines.

A2 didn't even thought about lowering her sword, even after she killed those hostile machines. She glared at the machine in front of her and pointed her sword at it, "You're a machine too."

"Wait!" The machine who was appearing to be a friendly one cried out to her before A2 could do anything, "Don't hurt me. I'm not like them. I disconnected from the network a long time ago!"

"And? You're just a murder bot, like any other machine." A2 continued glaring at the machine, "They killed so many of us and I swore to make them pay."

"I undestand why you're suspicious of me and I can't blame you for that but I can assure you that I have no intention of harming you." The machine attempted to assure them but A2 still seemed suspicious about it, "I come from the village of the machines that just like me detest fighting and want to live in peace with the androids. A machine lifeform named Pascal is leading us."

"If what you're telling us about this entire village is true." David began, speaking up to this machine, wanting to know more about this machine. He simply wanted to sure what to do with it, "Then, what were you doing out here? Were you looking for something?"

"I was visiting a friend of mine who lives in this forest and takes care of the forest creatures. I was coming back to the village when I was attacked by the machines that your friend here slayed." The machine paused for a moment as A2 readied her sword, and glanced at David, telling him to back away without saying any words as she was excepting the machine to attack them, but it didn't as it spoke again, "Oh, and allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Vick."

"Alright, Vick." David stopped for a second before asking another question, as he shifted his attention between the machine who just introduced himself as Vick and A2 who still looked like she was ready to slay him at any moment. He asked him another question, "Is there more you can tell us about your village?"

"I was one of the first machines that arrived in this village. At first there were only a few of us but more of us arrived there as the time progressed." Vick began, "We even formed an alliance with Anemone som..."

"...Anemone?" A2 cut Vick off right after hearing this machine mention this name, with a hint of confusion and suprise in her tone.

David turned to look at her and noted the way how she reacted when this name was mentioned. She mentioned about the android resistance to him before, but he didn't recall her mentioning any of the members of the said resistance to him. After seeing her reaction, one question appeared in his mind. Did she came across this Anemone before?

"Yes." Vick confirmed, not noticing A2's weird reaction, "I know that this may sound weird to both of you but we forged an alliance with her camp sometime ago and I think that they are certain now that we mean no harm to them. We trade materials with each other when the need arises."

David didn't said anything at Vick's words as he turned away from him to look at A2 again. They exchanged a look with each other, a few seconds later, she moved her blade away from Vick. It disappeared from her grasp and reappeared on her back right after.

"Just go before I'll change my mind." She told Vick, turning away from the said machine. David turned away from him as well and the two of them started walking away from him, heading in the direction from which they came from.

"Wait!" Vick cried out to them, causing A2 and David to stop and turn back to look at him again, "Allow me to bring you to my village. I'd like to introduce you to Pascal."


	5. The Machine Village

David and A2 were silent for most of the journey to the village which was apparently inhabited by friendly machines that detested fighting of any kind as Vick, a machine which came from this village walked ahead of them, leading them towards it.

David's traveling companion was not a fan of this idea and she wasn't hesitant to voice her mind about Vick's offer when he offered to take them to his village. It took the human a few minutes to convice her to give this try. He wasn't sure if going with Vick was a good idea either but if it meant finding an exit from this forest, then it was worth a shot.

The human had to admit that he was suprised a bit, because Vick was leading him and A2 through the same path that he and his android companion were planning to take before they came across him. The friendly machine led them to a large gate which was not too far from a huge castle. The gate was shut open and all three of them were greeted by the sight of a more forested area.

They stepped into a forested area as Vick made sure to shut the gate behind them, to prevent anyone else from entering this path. They started walking along the path, which for most of the time was just walking up the hill. It eventually led them to the three platforms. Vick leaped himself into the air and easily made his way over these platforms as David bit his lips, knowing that it will take him a bit longer to get there.

"What's wrong?" Vick asked as he turned around and looked down at David and A2, "Why are you not coming?"

"Just wait a minute or two, Vick." David told him, "It may take me a bit longer to get up there than it took you."

"Really?" Vick asked, the tone of his voice was telling David that the machine was confused by his answer, "It was a long time since I saw an android that would have trouble with it. You must be a really old model."

"You're not wrong about that." David nodded in confirmation, deciding to go along with what Vick just said, not really wanting to think of a different explanation.

"Okay." Vick said, "Then, I'll wait for you up here."

David turned his gaze away from the machine and turned it towards A2 who pressed her hands together and held them down, waiting for the human to place his feet on them. He placed his right feet on her hands, asking her, "Still having seconds thoughts about this?"

"Yes." A2's answer was exactly the one David excepted to get from her as she helped him to climb into the first platform, "I might be putting you in danger by following this machine. What if he is trying to lead us into a trap?"

"Have you ever seen a machine pull of a trick like that just to lead you into a trap?" David asked her in return as A2 easily made her way into the first platform, joining her human ward on it.

The android didn't respond to his words right after. At first she wanted to be done with getting her traveling companion over these platforms. She pressed her hands together, once again and she and David repeated this action two more times, and it was just a matter of a moment or two before both of them found themselves standing on the top.

"You're up here." Vick said as he started walking in the direction of his village again, which was pretty visible from this spot, "Follow me, my friends. We're very close to the village now."

"No." A2 shook her head in response to David's earlier question as if she didn't even heard what Vick just said to them, following the machine along with David who walked right next to her, "But those dammed machines keep evolving. Just stay away from the fight if this will turn out to be a trap. I don't want to put you in the same situation as earlier. "

"Don't dwell on it. What happened back there was an accident." David told her as he gave her a quick pat on her shoulder, "I don't blame for you it. I trust you."

He gave her a small smile and proceeded to follow Vick into his village, walking past A2 who stopped where she stood for a second when she heard him say these words to her. Her human ward wasn't with her only because sticking with her was his only and best option now. He was with her because he trusted her. He actually trusted her...

She was taken away from her thoughts when she heard Vick ask David, "Is everything alright with your friend?"

"Uh?" David said in response as he turned around to see A2 just standing, "Are you okay, A2?"

"Yes." A2 quickly answered, approaching them.

"Are you sure?" David wanted to be sure as A2 walked past him and Vick, "You seemed..."

A2 quickly cut him off, "I'm fine."

"If you say so." David said, starting to follow her, "Just wanted to be sure."

The human made sure to take a good look at the place in front of him. He could easily say that it was the largest treehouse he has ever seen in his life. A huge tree was standing right in the middle of the village as two wooden platforms which were creating two floors were surrounding it. A few small buildings, probably houses was the other thing he could spot about this village.

They didn't walk for long. About a minute passed before they found themselves in front of a ladder which was leading to the upper level of the village. Vick didn't had much trouble with getting himself on the upper level as he simply leaped himself upwards and landed right where he wanted to with a loud thud.

He turned himself around and glanced down at David and A2, "I'll go get Pascal. I'll join you again in a moment."

He disappeared from their view right after as he headed out to get Pascal. David turned to look at A2 who moved towards the ladder and started climbing up it. The human didn't waste anytime and started climbing up the ladder shorty after, making sure to keep his head down, not wanting to go through the same awkward situation as he did when he and A2 were climbing up the same ladder for the first time.

"Keep your guard up." A2 told him the moment he climbed up the ladder to the first floor of the village.

David responded with an assuring nod of his head, only a second before they started heading in the direction in which Vick went a few moments ago. They only managed to take a few steps forward before they heard that something was coming towards them. They immediately realized that it was a machine, but not just one. A few them.

They quickly got their answer when they saw a group of a least a dozen of the smaller machines heading their way. A2 quickly got herself in a defensive position in front of David, and was ready to draw one of her blades out as David's eyes noticed something about eyes of the machines approaching him. All of the machines he came across since his awakening had yellow eyes which were turning red the moment they spotted him and A2, but strangely these machines eyes were remaining pure green.

"Hi!" The first machine spoke up and David furrowed his brows in confusion because the machine that just spoke to him and A2 actually sounded like a child?! A human boy to be exact.

It was followed by another machine speaking up, "Who are you?"

And another one, "Uncle Vick told us that you came with him!"

"Your clothes are so weird, mister android!" One of them giggled, pointing at David's clothes.

"I like your hair, android lady! It's pretty!" A machine with a flower over it's head that was sounding like a little girl yelled out, pointing at A2's long hair.

The children sounding machines continued to speak to the newcomers in their village at the same time. It was just a matter of seconds before neither David or A2 could understand what they were saying to them. The human sighed, waiting for them to stop as the android scoffed and glared at them, clearly irritated by them.

"Alright, children." It was when a feminine voice spoke up, causing the children sounding machines to stop talking. David and A2 looked in the direction of the voice to see Vick who was standing next to an unknown machine. The human made sure to eye the machine standing next to Vick because he hasn't seen a machine that looked like that before, "How about we'll give our guests a little space?"

"How about you let me and uncle Pascal talk with them and you can talk with them once we'll done?" Vick offered.

The children machines all voiced their understanding of Vick's words before turning away from David and A2, beginning to walk away from them. David, A2 and the two machines watched them leave for a moment before they disappeared from their view.

"I'm sorry if they made you feel uncomfortable." The machine who David assumed to be the Pascal that Vick spoke of said to him and A2, "They get very excited when an android visits our village, especially when it is one they haven't seen before."

"Yeah. I can tell." David gave them a quick nod of his head as A2 crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, annoyed frown remaining on her face, "I assume that you're the Pascal that Vick told us about?"

"Yes. It's me." Pascal confirmed David's assumptions, "You must be the androids that came in Vick's aid when he needed help. I want to tell you that I'm really grateful for what you did."

"Don't mention it." David told him, "Vick was crying out for help and we did what we thought was right."

Pascal gave the human a small nod of his head as he turned his attention to A2. He eyed her for a second before asking, "I'm sorry for asking this out of the sudden but are you with YoRHa?"

David's eyes snapped open at his question, knowing that his traveling companion was not going to like this question as A2's expression quickly turned into a glare as she snapped, with the anger evident in her voice, looking like she was seconds away from drawing out one of her blades, "No! I'm not with them! Not anymore!"

The human quickly reacted to that. He placed his hand on A2's shoulder, intending to calm her down a bit, "A2, calm down. He had no idea."

A2 turned her gaze away from Pascal and looked at David. She pointed ahead of herself, "I'll be over there once you'll be done talking with them."

"I'm sorry." Pascal said to David as A2 walked past them and stopped a few meters in front of them, making sure to keep an eye on her human ward, "Is this something I said that made her upset?"

"Don't worry about it. She reacted very similiar when I asked her why she left YoRHa." David assured the friendly machine, lying a bit because A2 didn't snap at him like that when he asked her why she left YoRHa, "We've been traveling together only for a week. I don't want to force this information out of her."

"Oh, I see." Pascal said in understanding, "Our village has already formed an alliance with the Resistance, and I'm hoping to form one with YoRHa too. She's the first YoRHa android to ever come to our village and I was hoping that it might the chance I've been waiting for."

David just gave the friendly machine a silent nod of his head, not really knowing how to reply to what Pascal just said. He asked him a few seconds later, "...How often are you visited by other androids?"

"From time to time." Pascal answered, "Sometimes it is when an android wants to stay here for some time. Sometimes it is when Anemone is lacking a part or some materials and is sending someone to my village."

"Anemone? She leads the Resistance?" David wanted to know, recalling Vick mentioning this Anemone before. He also recalled that A2 mentioned the Resistance to him, but didn't recall her telling him where it was.

"Yes." Pascal confirmed.

"Good to know. I'm new to these parts and I'm not really that familiar with the surroundings, yet." David explained, "Where's Anemone's camp?"

"It is actually not too far from there. It shouldn't take you long get there, if you will want to visit it." Pascal assured him, "It's in the city."

"The city?" David began, "Me and my traveling companion just travel around, and when we entered the forest, the entrance which we used to get there shut down. We came here because I thought that this village can lead us back to the city."

"There is a path out of our village that is leading into the forest." Pascal explained as David could feel a small smile forming on his lips. Coming to this village may have been worth a shot, after all, "I can tell you in which direction you should head when you'll be heading out."

"Thanks." David smiled at him, "That would be great."

"It's the least I can do..." Pascal paused for a second, "I'm sorry, I don't know actually know your name."

"You can call me David." The human introduced himself to the friendly machine.

"Alright, David." Pascal began, "I can show you the direction right now to the city right now if you want to, but before you'll go, I'd like to suggest looking around my village. I know that the idea of machines that detest fighting of any kind and want nothing but a peaceful existence may seem weird, even unreal to you and your friend, but I can assure you that you'll change your mind if you look around and see for yourself."

"I can show you around the village if you want to." Vick added right after Pascal finished speaking.

"I'll think about it, but at first..." David said, turning to look at A2, "Let me talk with my traveling companion about it."

"Of course. Take all the time you need." Vick said in understanding as David walked past him and Pascal and made his way over to A2.

"I have some good news." He told his android companion who looked at him, waiting for him to say what he meant by that, "There is a path out of this village that will take us straight to the city. Pascal told me that he'll show us which way we should head once we'll be heading out of this village, but, before you'll say anything about going to him, there's one more thing..."

"That thing is?" A2 wanted to know.

"Vick offered to give us a trip around the village." David explained. He was about to add something more but A2 answered to his words before he had a chance to do so.

"Fine." His android companion sighed, seeing that her human ward actually wanted to take a look around this village. She looked over his shoulder and saw Vick walk over to them, "Make this quick."

"Don't worry." Vick assured her, "I'll make this as quick as I can."

The friendly machine walked past him, beginning the trip around the village. David folowed him as A2 walked right next to her human ward, eyeing her surroudings suspiciously. The trip around the village lasted about a little over an hour. It went exactly as David excepted it to go. For most of the trip, Vick showed them small houses where the machines must have live in and introduced him and A2 to some of his friends from the village.

As Vick proceeded to show David and A2 around his village, the human had to admit that the thing that suprised him the most was a group of machines that formed a family. He didn't know why but he couldn't help but chuckle when a machine which took the role of father had a suit painted all over his body. One of the other machines that Vick introduced him and A2 to was a machine with a make up over her face that kept talking to herself about some other machine named "Jean-Paul".

The trip around the village ended next to the ladder which was leading to the ground level where David and A2 saw the children machines that approached them not long after they entered this village. David thanked Vick for giving him and A2 a trip around his village, for which Vick responded that it was nothing before walking away from them to do his own thing.

David started climbing down the ladder to the ground level a few seconds after Vick walked away from him and A2, intending to have a talk with the children sounding machines. These machines seemed to be very excited when he and A2 entered their village, so he thought that he could talk with them for a few minutes before setting off.

The moment he set his feet on the ground, he instantly earned attention of the children machines who stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He returned their gaze and slowly took a few steps forward, making his way over to them.

"Mister, can you tell us a story?" A little girl sounding machine that stood out the most from the crowd asked him. She was larger than the other children machines he has seen so far and had a pink ribbon over head. She wasn't the only machine with a ribbon in the crowd. A small machine with blue ribbon was standing next to her.

David titled his head, not excepting to hear this request, "A story?..."

"Yes!" One of the machines confirmed.

The human was silent for a few moments because he had never received a request like this before. He knew he could have just say one, but on the other hand, coming up with a story to tell shouldn't be too hard for him. He had seen a lot of movies, TV shows, and read a lot of stories. He surely could think of something to tell them.

"Let it be something cool!" Another machine spoke up, taking him away from his thoughts.

Third one followed, "Do you know a story that has awesome fights?"

"Children, I don't think you're letting our guest speak." Pascal told the children as he landed behind them. David looked at the leader of this village in suprise. Pascal could fly? The children were silenced by Pascal and all looked at David, awaiting his answer.

"I can tell you a story, but give me a moment, I need to pick which story should I tell you." He finally answered the question as the children machines gave him their own excited responses of understanding. A2 jumped down from the first floor of the village and landed on the ground level. She stopped and leaned against a ladder which David used to get here.

Her traveling companion remained silent for a another few moments, attempting to figure out what story he should tell these machines now that he agreed to tell one to them. One of the stories that came through his mind was a story about a bounty hunter who never removed his helmet among the other people who saved a child with very special abilities during a job and ended up taking care of it? Or maybe a story about a man in an iron suit who became one of the Earth's greatest protectors, a man who in the end saved the universe?

"...I think I found one. It's a story about humans who returned to their home planet after spending almost one hundred years in the sky." David declared after a moment of thought as the children machines around him seemed to get excited about this. He wasn't exactly sure about that. The human let out a small exhale before starting the story he was planning to tell them, "Once upon a time, there was a spacestation in the sky which was known the remains of humanity residing there as "The Ark."

"Why are they humans living up there?" One of the children machines spoke up, raising it's hand.

"Something terrible happened on the Earth in this story and the humans who were living on the Ark were lucky enough to be there when it happened." David explained, "The Ark was dying, and the humans decided to send the bad children to their home planet, to see if it was habitable again. At the beginning, there was a hundred of them, well a hundred and one, because one of them sneaked his way in to look after his sister who he hasn't seen in long time because she was locked up with the bad children."

"Why was she locked up with them?" The same children machine from a moment ago asked another question.

"Did she do something wrong?" The other children machine asked.

"The Ark had very strick rules." David began, deciding to cut the part was every crime was a death sentence to the criminal that reached adulthood, "Each family was allowed to have only one child. She was born as a second child and had to be hidden away by her family, when she was found, she was placed in the place where the Ark was placing bad children."

"Isn't it a bit too severe?" Pascal asked.

"It is." David nodded in agreement, "But the humans residing on the Ark needed air to survive, and their home had limited amounts of it which was the reason why they send bad children to the Earth in the first place. They had to do everything they could to make sure that they will be able to live there for as long as it was possible."

"I assume that many humans weren't fond of these rules." Pascal stated.

"You're not wrong about that." David nodded his head in confirmation, "After they landed on their home planet, The bad children were left all alone on it, with no parents, without anyone to watch over them, and they did what they wanted, but their fun unfortunely didn't last long."

"Why?" The confused machine asked him.

"Because the monsters, the humans who were living on the Earth all along came out of their hiding and attacked them." David explained.

The children let out a suprised "What?" at the same time.

"I thought that the humans on the Ark were all that was left of humanity in this story." Pascal stated.

"This is what the bad children and the other people from the Ark thought, but they were wrong." David told him, "People were living on the Earth for all this time."

"Why would they attack them? Wouldn't these humans be happy that they're not the only ones that survived?" The machine with a blue ribbon asked.

"Let's just say that the monsters didn't like when someone stepped into their territory and this where the bad children happened to land." David explained.

"They were like those mean machines from the forest?" One of the machines pointed out.

"Something like that." David nodded his head, having a chance to experience the hospitality of the machines from the forest not that long ago, "The bad children fought back, and as the time passed, they started to see that some of the monsters were just like them. Some of them even formed close relatioships with the monsters."

"Like a relationship between me and with my little sister?" The machine with blue ribbon asked him, gesturing towards a larger machine with pink ribbon.

David eyed the two ribbon wearing machines in front of him. He wasn't this much suprised about machines forming families because Vick introduced him and A2 to a machine family while he was showing them the village, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but chuckle because of the fact that a smaller sister was considered big sister and the larger one was considered little sister.

"Something like that." He gave them a small nod of confirmation, "But when the rest of the Ark came down to the Earth, there were a few people among them that just made things worse. One of them almost started a war after his friends heavily worked to make peace with the monsters."

"Why would he want to start a war, even after his friends made peace?" Pascal asked.

"Let's just say he had some unpleasant experience with them after he landed on the Earth." David explained, "But it didn't matter anyway, after all they did to survive, they found out that the Earth was hunted by an unstoppable monster..."

He paused for a second, excepting one of the machines to ask him a question, and it happened a few seconds later, "An unstoppable monster?"

"Praimfaya." David explained, "A death wave that destroys everything and everyone in it's path. Our characters searched for a way how to survive it and they eventually found bunker under the ground where the ancestors of the humans who were living on the Earth for all this time survived. But unfortunely, in the end, not everyone made it to the bunker. Eight warriors. Six people from the Ark, and two monsters from the Earth, were forced to face Praimfaya alone."

"How they were separated from the rest?" A machine asked him, curiously.

"They send themselves on a mission to get their friend and bring her to the bunker, but after a while, hey realized they were short of time. They could either return to the bunker and leave their friend behind, or proceed on their mission and save their friend."

"They decided to save their friend." Pascal finished what David was about to say.

"Exactly." David nodded in confirmation, "They fought, more than they ever have before, but it still wasn't enough, at least until one of them made a sacrifice and send her friends back to the sky, just moments before Praimfaya arrived at their position. She didn't die, though, because she had magic blood."

"Magic?!" A few of the children cried out at the same time, excitedly.

One of them raised a hand in the air, "Was she able to perform magic tricks?"

David shook his head, "The magic blood thanks to which she survived was known as black blood. She injected herself with it when her and the others characters were searching for a way how to survive Praimfaya, before the bunker was discovered. The other characters didn't inject themselves with this type of blood, because they were sure that this was not going to work."

"They performed tests and they didn't end well?" Pascal assumed.

"You can say that." David nodded his head in confirmation, before going back to the story, especially that he made it to the last part of the story, "The hero was left all alone. Everyone she loved, or cared about was gone. Either trapped under the ground, or lost in the sky. She was the last living person on the ground, but she was wrong, she found another person, a little girl who unlike her didn't had to inject herself with night blood, but was born with it, and they lived happily ever after."

And with that, David stopped talking as he had finished the story he was planning to tell. The entire area around him was engulfed by complete silence which was broken when one of the machines yelled out, "That was awesome!"

"Mister android, do you know more awesome stories like this one?" The other machine wanted to know.

"I think I can tell you one or two." David nodded his head in response, with a small smile forming on his lips, "How about, the next time I'll tell you a story about a giant lizard who fights an evil three headed dragon over the dominance over the other monsters, and the only thing that the humans can do is to let them fight?"

All of the children machines in front of him gave him an excited response as David shook his head with a smile after seeing how excited they got about the next story. He stepped away from them, and started making his way over to A2.

"You know you could have just said no." She pointed out as her human ward approached her.

"I know." David answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Are we done with this?" A2 asked him, "Are we heading out now?"

"Yes." David nodded his head in confirmation, as he turned around to look at Pascal who flied into the air and made his way over to the first floor of his village, next to the ladder, "Let's ask Pascal which way we should head to get back to the city."

A2 nodded her head in return and turned her gaze away from her human ward towards the ladder on which she was leaning on for these past several minutes. She placed her hands on it and started climbing her way up it as David quickly followed her and it was just a matter of seconds before they found themselves standing in front of Pascal on the first floor of his village.

"Are you heading out now?" The machine asked the visitors in his village. When he received a nod of confirmation from David, he asked, "What do you think about my village?"

"I actually enjoyed my time here." David smiled at the leader of this village, "It was nice to come across some machines that are not trying to kill you the moment they set their gaze on you."

"It wasn't that bad." A2 spoke next when she saw David glancing over at her from the corner of his eyes, wondering if she was going to say something or not, "It was better than I thought it will be."

"I'm glad you enjoyed your time here." Pascal said, sounding happy in his mechanical voice as he held out something to the human and the android, "Before you leave, I'd like to ask you to do something. Can you take this to Anemone? It's a fuel filter she requested."

David eyed the part in front of him before taking it from the friendly machine. He took his backpack off his back and unzipped it, before placing the fuel filter in it, "If we happen to be walking by the camp, we'll make sure to give it to her."

"Thank you." Pascal thanked David with a small nod of his head before pointing at the path ahead of them, "If you want to get to the city, you just need to walk down this path and you should find yourself there in a few minutes. If you two will ever want to stop in our village, once again, we will always welcome you with open arms."

"Thanks." David gave him a small smile and a nod of his head as he placed his backpack over his shoulders again, "We'll keep that in mind."

He gave Pascal one last small wave before turning away from the friendly machine along with A2. His android companion took the lead as they started walking in the direction that the machine gave them, hoping to find themselves in the city again.


End file.
